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Topic: Tannin's in Mead (Read 5210 times)

I just recieved my scoresheets from NHC '12 regarding my sack, semi-sweet, Trad. Mead, I scored a 38, first round and 32in the secon. This was my first mead and I was very happy with how it turned out. In no way am I arguing the comments I think they are spot on but, I had comments regarding the dryness of the mead and tannins. I did try to dry the mead out so that it would not be too sweet as other homebrewed examples I had were too sweet for my preference.

My question is where would tannins come from? When I think tannins, grape skins come to mind but I did not add these.

you don't have to leave it out, it's good for balancing sweetness and tartness so the mead is not to one dimensional. I think best practice is to add it post ferment to taste. draw a sample and dose with drops of disolved acid blend until the flavour is where you want it then scale up to the full batch.

you don't have to leave it out, it's good for balancing sweetness and tartness so the mead is not to one dimensional. I think best practice is to add it post ferment to taste. draw a sample and dose with drops of disolved acid blend until the flavour is where you want it then scale up to the full batch.

I agree with this. I always add some acid blend to my meads because I feel it really helps to balance things out. Meads without a very slight touch of that acid tartness are, to me, definitely lacking. Of course, traditionally it wouldn't be added, but the drink definitely benefits from the addition...at least according to my taste.

With regard to sack mead, I was always under the impression that the term referred to a higher ABV, and that sack mead could be sweet, semi-sweet, or even on the dry side. Maybe there's a mead expert among us that can weigh in with more authoritative info with regard to that...

Tannin will come from addition of oak. chips, cubes, sporal, stave, barrel. Tannin will balance out acid & sweetness making it more complex. A slight addtion of grape tannin will also suffice. Your mead will shine if it has a balace of acid & tannins added. this is why you'll see people adding some oak for a week or two.